A little birdie told me
by Violet26
Summary: Lily Evans adds a tale of her own to the boy's "To whom it may concern" collection of tales. It's their 6th year and the Yule ball is approaching fast. Lily is determined to make Remus Lupin her date but he's already going with someone. When the ball arrives he doesn't seem too interested in his date. Why wouldn't he ask her then? She's determined to find out. Eventual wolfstar
1. Chapter 1

**A Little Birdie Told Me**: Lily Evans (James's girl) (Middle sixth year added to our story seventh year)

Okay, I'm not an official Marauder, but the boys showed me this piece they put together, titled: "To whom it may concern" and I thought it needed to be a bit more complete. So this is my two cents.

It started out with my first major crush. My target was Remus Lupin. I loved how smart he was, I also loved the slight mysteriousness about him. I am one who was always for a man of mystery. I have to admit I thought he was ruggedly handsome also. There was something about those big mysterious eyes, the muscular arms, and that wavy hair, that immediately drew me in. I have to say, for the record, I was never one of those drolly girls that gawked at guys; I had my own methods of admiration. So when the Yule ball came around in our sixth year I was determined to make Remus my date.

My execution turned out to be a bit off. I attempted to find any and all excuses to single Remus out, which wasn't too hard, Remus and I had been good friends from day one. I started out catching up with him after every class. I would start small talk and occasionally threw in some brainy comment. Remus had previously mentioned something about being drawn to people of intellect. After every conversation I would mention something like how excited I was about the Yule Ball, but how depressing it would be to go without a date. Remus seemed to leave those comments unnoticed. Every time I started to push a bit harder, Sirius Black would show up and interrupt the conversation. It was obvious I needed a new approach. I wasn't one of those desperate girls who would go to all extremes to get their man, and was too nervous to flat-out ask him, but I was determined to force him to ask me.

My new approach would be to join him in one of the lounges. I would at first sit by myself pretending to be deeply into my work. Of course we eventually ended up looking over the material together. Remus was too polite not to include me. This approach didn't work very well either. Sirius Black had managed to track us down each and every time. He also insisted on joining our little study group. I was annoyed at Sirius because he never took the hint that I wanted alone time with Remus. On the other hand he also seemed annoyed with my presence as if he too were seeking alone time with Remus, but I immediately brushed those thoughts aside.

Finally I was running out of options and time, I had turned down at least three or four perfectly suitable dates, due to my determination to have Remus. I now understood how frustrated James must have felt every time I turned him down, (Or perhaps not, James seemed to take rejection as encouragement and assumed my no's meant try a little harder you're cute and I like this game).

My last approach was point-blank. I found the courage that I didn't think I had. I corned Remus in the hallway, he looked a little startled to say the least, "Remus Lupin," I said with a bit of bitterness, "are you going to take me to the Yule Ball or what?"

"I," Remus looked shocked, "I, well, already have a date Lily."

"Oh," I said surprised with his answer.

"You have to understand Lily," Remus grabbed my shoulders, "I really would have liked to go with you, but James, well he's my good friend and…"

"I understand," I smiled, "hey, save me a dance."

He nodded, "No hard feelings then."

I had to admit I was disappointed but I understood. I couldn't be mad at Remus. Never my sweet, adorable, Remus, James however!

"Oh course not Remus," I started to walk away and then I quickly turned around to ask, "so who are you going to take to the Yule Ball then?"

Remus shrugged and glanced at Sirius Black, who had once again taken that opportunity to find us, "Oh just a girl from Raven Claw that transferred sometime last week."

That comment took me off guard a bit. To be honest it kind of hurt that Remus would choose a girl he only meant last week over me, (James Potter and me were definitely going to have words!).

"Hey," Sirius put his arm around his friend, "what's up?"

"Nothing much," I shrugged. I was beginning to get really frustrated at Black for popping up all the time. "I've got to go," I waved goodbye to the guys and stalked down the hallway in search of Peter, who would lead me to James, or to find James himself.

I finally found James chatting with a bunch of guys from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I took a deep breath and marched straight towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't even turn around. He brushed my hand off, "Later Pete ,I'll talk with you later. I'm busy now."

The guys, including James, didn't even look up. They were concentrating on some game plays James had drawn. I tapped him on the shoulder again, "Peter!" James said bitterly, "bug off I'm busy."

"And you," I said harshly, "wonder why I won't date you. James Potter if you treat your friends with this much negligence and rudeness, how on earth are you going to manage to keep a girlfriend happy? Certainly not by telling her to bug off!"

This must have caught James off guard because he spun around and seemed tongue-tied. "Evans," he ran his hand through his messy hair, "I, I um, I."

"Oh get off of it James," I laughed, "I just need a couple of minutes of your time." I looked at his teammates and none of them seem as if they were going to move. "Alone!" I said forcefully.

Some of them left, others smiled and gave James a wink and then left, others still let out those very grown up taunting Ooos! then left. Regardless of how they left soon they did leave and finally I was alone to confront James.

A bit of a cocky, I, the Magnificent James Potter, have finally won you at last, smile came to his face. "What is this about my sweet? Finally going to admit you love me and will of course be my date to the Yule Ball."

I rolled my eyes, "Now, why on earth would I say something that stupid?"

James play-acted and clenched his heart, "Ah, that hurt Evans. So what do you want?"

"I want to know what you said to Remus to make him not want to ask me to go to the Yule Ball," I attempted to keep my cool. "You darn well knew that he was going to ask me. Now he seems so afraid of you that he asked some new girl to go."

James' face went blank, "I didn't know he wanted to ask you."

"Come on James," I was beginning to lose it a bit, "admit that you were jealous, that I pay more attention to Remus than you and that you sabotaged my chances with him."

James looked even more confused, "Hold on Evans. I didn't have a clue that you wanted Remus to take you to the dance and if I did, why would I sabotage it? If you weren't going with me I'd rather have you go with one of my friends than any other stupid bloke. Honestly Evans," James looked me straight in the eyes, "I said nothing to Remus ."

I felt as if I had been slapped in the face, it was obvious that James was telling the truth, "but," I mumbled, "Why would he lie?"

James shrugged his shoulders, "maybe he was embarrassed?"

"Embarrassed?" it was my time to be confused.

"Yeah," James laughed, "he and Sirius got forced or shall I say blackmailed into taking two new transfer students to the dance."

"What do you mean?" I couldn't possibly fathom the two agreeing to something like that.

"McGonagall," James said looking around as to see if anyone was listening, "wanted someone to help make the girls feel welcomed to Hogwarts. Sirius had about a bazillion detentions for being tardy, among other things, and Remus had at least two for covering for Sirius. McGonagall said she would drop all of them if the boys agreed to take the girls to the Yule Ball. But hey, it's suppose to be a secret, don't say anything okay?"

I nodded, it made sense to me, but I was still hurt that Remus had lied. I started to walk away when James yelled, "Evans!"

I swung around quickly, "what is it James?"

"The dance is tomorrow."

"Yeah so," I was a bit annoyed until it sunk in the dance was tomorrow and I had wasted all this time chasing after Remus, because I was sure he would say yes.

"You must not have a date since Remus turned you down," James strutted towards me.

_"Crap,"_ I thought to myself. He was right and I can't show up by myself, that would be humiliating.

"So you want to go with me?" James eyes sparkled with triumph.

I saw nothing triumphant in the situation. My head screamed _"NO!"_ but my mouth rebelled and squeaked out, "Fine Potter I'll go with you."

"Ha, Ha," James wrapped his arm around me, "won your heart at last."

I pushed him away, "Whatever Potter. Think what you want, won my heart or last resort. Same thing right?"

"Ugh," James placed his hand to his head, "bashing me again. Maybe I shouldn't take you."

"Yeah, like you would give up an opportunity to show up with me at the Yule Ball and rub it in the faces of all those people who have told you it would be a cold day in hell before I would go out on a date with you," I laughed and turned away from him, "See you tomorrow Potter and you better pick me up at seven o'clock, on time James, with a corsage. I'm wearing an emerald-green gown."

I walked away then. I didn't want to give James a chance to even think about saying some other smart remark. I honestly had a headache and didn't want to deal with James Potter more than I had to in one day. It was bad enough that I had agreed to do the one thing I had sworn I would never do, go on a date with James Potter. True James has his good points, he's fairly smart, he's not bad-looking (I thought him to be rather handsome, in a rough sort of way), and he's an excellent Quidditch player, and despite his earlier outburst when he thought I was Peter, James is very good and loyal to his friends. Matter of fact his only real downfall was his big head that was inflated three times the normal size. It didn't help he had his group of admirers ,not to mention Peter Pettigrew, who just hung on James' every move with a hero-worship like awe. I still knew I'd rather be going to the ball with Remus Lupin.


	2. The ball

James kept his word and picked me up at seven p.m. sharp the next day. He looked very nice in his long, black, dress robes. He didn't say much and to my surprise he acted very gentleman like. He gave me a very pretty red rose corsage that went around my wrist and matched my emerald-green dress robes very nicely. He escorted me to the ball, and as expected, when we entered there was a bit of staring and whispering. I knew how shocked many of those students must have been. I shocked myself when I accepted the date.

We quickly made it to a table where Sirius and Remus were chatting. They stood and Sirius whistled. "Why Lily," he smiled, looking me over, "you look gorgeous."

"Thanks," I smiled and looked around, "where are your dates?"

"Oh," Remus blushed, "mine's getting punch and Sirius' is dancing with Peter."

"Peter?" I couldn't help the surprise in my voice.

"Yup," Sirius laughed, "who knew the little guy had that hidden talent. He's not bad from the looks of it." he said as he glanced at the dance floor.

I looked over at Peter and saw he was gracefully leading a petite blonde around the dance floor. To surprise me even more, I noticed there were a couple a girls lined up to be the next one he danced with. I was glad for him, for once poor Peter held the spotlight.

"Didn't he take miss," I searched my brain for the name of the girl he had hooked up with a while back, "miss what's her name, you know Sirius?"

"How can I forget?," Sirius stared at Remus and Remus looked down at his drink, "I was almost lunch meat for Black Wing because of that girl. No, I don't think Peter's still with her. Can't seem to keep them long, that's Pete for you." he shrugged. "But hey he's having fun tonight." Sirius said, casting Peter another glance before looking back at Remus. "Oh. here comes our dates. Shall we ask them to dance Remus?"

Remus gave Sirius an odd look, almost as if he were longing to dance with Sirius himself. He smiled when the fast song came on and nodded. The two meant their dates and led them to the dance floor.

I looked towards James, who was now the center of attention of some of our fellow Gryphindors. He seemed caught up in another of his wild adventure stories. I laughed as I saw how animated he was getting. I figured his story could take a while so I planted myself in the nearest seat. I turned my attention to Remus and Sirius.

It was then that I noticed that the two seemed to be paying more attention to each other than their dates. The song had changed into a slow song and though Remus was dancing with his date he was glancing up at Sirius. Sirius was doing the same. It almost seemed as if those two fancied each other, but I thought that couldn't be the case. I shook off the feeling and stood up as James approached me and held out his hand. I took it and gladly followed him to the dance floor, I wanted to get a better look at his two friends.

While dancing with James I took the occasional glance towards the two other boys and noticed it again. They definitely both carried the same longing look in their eyes. Then it hit me. My mind flashed back to the past week when I was stalking Remus. Sirius had managed to show up each and every time I was walking with Remus in the hall. Sirius had shown up at each of mine and Remus' study sections. Sirius always insisted that Remus help him in his potions lesson. That should have made me more suspicious than anything. Sirius Black was excellent in potions, he was one of Slughorn's, our potions master, personal favorites along with myself. Remus was terrible at potions, the only class he did poorly in. Sirius had even popped up when I had made a fool out of myself and asked Remus to the dance. Then another slap in my face hit me when I recalled the rumors last year of the famous 'Ode to Sirius Black'. "_Since it wasn't James that interfered with Remus asking me, could it have been Sirius?"_ I questioned to myself. It was that minute that I became determined to see if I was right.

* * *

After that night I became a bit obsessed with my quest to find out if the boys really liked each other. I did a bit of stalking and came to the conclusion, I was right. The two were inseparable. Sirius preferred sitting next to Remus to any of the girls who offered. Sirius preferred partnering up with Remus to any other person in all the classes. Sirius would occasionally place a friendly arm around Remus during their break times or after a class. True Potter or Pettigrew would do that to Remus and Sirius also, it was a guy thing, but Sirius would do it to Remus more often.

Remus was a bit less obvious about his preference, but I picked up little things. Remus would sit a bit closer to Sirius than the others. Remus would help Sirius first through a difficult problem. Remus would come to Sirius first if he needed something. The boys' preferences might have not been obvious but for someone observing them closely, like myself, it was clear.

So what was I supposed to do? The two boys were obviously crazy for each other. I couldn't possibly sit around and wait for the two most stubborn men (next to Potter, of course.) in the magical world to take action. Being the caring female I am I was determined to play matchmaker.


	3. Chapter 3

I have in my possession a pet myna bird. It is a very annoying thing that was given to me on one of my birthdays from my death muggle grandmother. If she weren't death I would have to say grandmamma had a mean streak to her. The bird repeats everything anyone says and somehow has managed to break through any spell or charm I have attempted to place on it to keep it from talking. True, the spells or charms keep it quiet for a bit, but they never seem to have any long-term effects. Besides being an annoying talker and the worst secret keeper in the world, it also has the best memory on the earth. The one thing the darn bird is promised to do is to spit out the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time.

For once, I had a very good use for Aunt Mini (my grandmother named it also) . I knew, like most of the student at Hogwarts, that Sirius Black is an habitual groomer and it was not hard to find out his grooming habits. I also knew that he had just finished a tutoring lesson with Remus on the particular day I put my plan into action. So right after the lesson I put Aunt Mini in a little breathable pouch and put a temporary charm on her. I then placed the pouch under the counter in the boys' laboratory at exactly five minutes to one.

_"Let's see,"_ I thought to myself. _"If Black has anything to share with us today."_ I hid around the corner and watched as Sirius went in. He must have been in there for almost an hour, but he finally did come out. The second he was out of sight I retrieved Mini. I then made my way to a small study room close to the Gryphindor common room. I took Mini out of the pouch and removed the charm. "Sirius Black," I said to Mini, she'd repeat what she heard if you said the name of someone or something mentioned in the conversation.

"Sirius," Mini repeated in her squawky voice, "you're such a coward. Why couldn't you have just told Remus during our study section?" Mini took in a deep breath, mocking the sound she heard coming from Sirius. "Come on man have some back bone, just march right up to him and say Remus I have a confession." Mini squawked then continued. "Remus I like you and I mean that in more than a friend sense. I'm gay Remus. Ah, bloody hell it'll never work. Who am I fooling?" the bird paused again than squawked out. "Even if Remus is gay he'd never date the likes of me." She finished with another loud squawk then went silent.

I patted Mini on the head and laughed to myself. This was too perfect, I had the confession now all I had to do was deliver it to the right person. I quickly got up from my seat, placed another charm on Mini, then I put her back into the pouch.

I made my way to the Gryffindor common room. I had previously paid Frank Longbottom 5 lbs to help me out. I didn't tell him what I was up to, all I told him was I needed him to wait in the common room for me around two or three o'clock and deliver a pouch to James, Peter, Remus and Sirius' room. He was supposed to nonchalantly take it there and leave it there. Frank didn't seem too curious, he was more interested in the money.

As planned, Frank met me and he took the pouch with Mini in, (I warned him to be careful) to the boys' room. When he came back I asked him who was there? He told me Sirius and Remus were studying and he had used the excuse that he need them to help him with his schoolwork later. Which he had informed me was a good excuse because he truly did need help.

When Frank finished talking, he excused himself and I looked around for James. I caught him eyeing me from the doorway of the common room. He strutted up to me in his usual cocky and conceited manner. "Why Miss Evans," he bowed and kissed my hand. I quickly pulled it away. "Don't you look ravishing tonight."

"Ha," I laughed, "Like you know what the word ravishing means, but for once I'm glad to see you Potter and," I looked behind him and saw Peter Pettigrew lingering in the hall, "you too Peter."

Peter said nothing, he only stood there cowering behind James. James's big head had just been inflated three times with those words and a big grin came to his face. "I am," he placed his arm around my shoulder, "glad to hear that Lily."

"Back off Potter," I pulled away. "I only meant that I wanted to ask you if you have seen Mini."

James looked disappointed, "You mean your bird?"

"Yes James, my bird," I said as if I was actually concerned, "she disappeared again."

"Not again" James replied with a roll of his eyes. "As I recall, the last time the flipping bird disappeared, I found her in the common room repeating my conversation I had with Remus that morning. I'll never forget that day, way back in first year" James's face went glum, _"Remus if you tell anyone that I wet my bed this morning I'll turn you into a worm and feed you to Black Wing," it squawked, "James, calm down. I'm sure the nightmares just frightened your body so much that you lost control of your bodily functions. It happens to other people all the time. But really James if they are that bad you should seek counseling." _James shuddered as the memory faded. _ "If that wasn't embarrassing enough" he thought. " the dumb bird started jumping up and down shouting very loudly 'Wet Pants, Seek Counseling, Wet Pants Seek Counseling."_ James shook his head, "Honestly Lily if I do see your bloody bird again I'd probably feed him to Frank's cat!"

To my surprise James marched away from me then without another word. I had to laugh because I remembered the incident well. In all honesty Aunt Mini had not escaped, I was mad at James for pulling another stupid trick on Severus Snape and planted the bird in his room. I couldn't have guessed it would over hear such a tedious and embarrassing detail. It had humiliated poor James, but it was soon forgotten when the great James Potter had won one-hundred points for Gryffindor when Dumbledore found out he had done some splendid thing, I forget what it was, (the brilliant James Potter always seemed to be surprisingly useful and helpful at conveniently just the right time) and he soon was back on his high pedestal.

Anyways James wasn't my concern then. I had more important things at hand.

I made my way to the boys' room. I knocked lightly on the door and Remus let me in. "Lily," he looked a bit surprised but not disappointed to see me, "what brings you here?"

"Oh," I said with fake concern, and watched as Sirius stood also to greet me, "I lost Mini."

"Aunt Mini," Sirius laughed, obviously reminiscing the James event, "why would you think she was here?"

"I think that Frank might have accidentally grabbed her." I said as I walked into the room scanning for the pouch.

Sirius scratched his head, "What would Longbottom mistake your bird for?"

"Oh," I said nonchalantly, "my bird was in a pink pouch. I was carrying her to my friend's room and ran into Frank. He had bought the same type of pouch for his new friend and was showing it to me. He handed it to me to look over and when I was handing it back I think I might have given him mine instead." I shrugged. "Anyways, he just told me he had misplaced the pouch and the last place he was, was here." I looked around.

Remus glanced at Sirius and Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Might have," Sirius said, "he was here to ask a question."

"Oh," I excitedly spotted Mini's pouch, "there she is."

I went over to the exact spot Frank had told me he placed it, picked up the pouch and took out Mini, who had fallen asleep. She peeped with happiness when she saw me.

"Thank you Sirius," I said pretending to snuggle with Mini, "thank you Remus." _"That did it,"_ I thought. Little Aunt Mini's black and white head popped up with eagerness at the mention of the names and like a child, she promised to repeat. I held back my snicker when suddenly Mini was repeating every word of Sirius' bathroom conversation.

"Sirius," Mini repeated in her squawky voice, "you're such a coward. Why couldn't you have just told Remus during our study section?" Mini took in a deep breath mocking the sound she heard coming from Sirius. "Come on man have some back bone just march right up to him and say Remus I have a confession." she squawked and the boys simply stared in shock. "Remus I like you and I mean that in more than a friend sense. I'm gay Remus. Ah, bloody hell it'll never work. Who am I fooling even if Remus is gay he'd never date the likes of me."

I pretended to be embarrassed and acted as if I couldn't believe what she was saying. Sirius with his face flushed, stood stunned and silent. Remus stared back and forth from the bird to Sirius. When my pet finally shut up I quickly put her into the pouch again. "I'm…" I said stepping towards the door, "so, so, sorry." I began apologetically. "I don't know how she heard that… I should go." I of course made a speedy exit but when the boys shut the door again I leaned against it to hear what was being said. When I couldn't make out fully what was said I whispered a spell that made it easier for me to hear.

"Remus," Sirius sounded distress, "you shouldn't have found out this way."

"Is it?" Remus sounded like he was coming out of shock, "Is it true Sirius?"

There was a long pause and I wish I could have seen how the two were reacting.

"Yes Remus," Sirius said it with a sigh, "all of it."

I hated to hear the two suffer, but I was convinced it was for the best.

"Sirius," Remus said very softly, "Why me?"

"Why you?" Sirius sounded shocked, "I would think that was obvious."

"But you could have girl that you want or a number of boys," Remus said shyly.

"I don't want any girl or any other boy," Sirius mumbled bitterly.

"Oh," Remus said apologetically. "I didn't mean offense. I mean. I don't mind being the one you like. I just was wondering why me?"

"Because," Sirius let out a slight snicker, "my friend, you understand me. They think I am good-looking, with just cause, of course, and they like the fact that I'm popular. But you Remus, you see me for who I am, not for who they want me to be. You're a good friend and a good person. Why not you?"

There was silence for a bit than Sirius spoke again. "What did you mean when you said, you didn't mind me liking you?"

"I meant," Remus seemed hesitant, "I like you too," he said the last words very softly.

There was an awkward silence and my imagination played out the rest nicely. I decided to back away and take in the triumph of my plan. Just as I turned around, however, I bumped into James. "Oh," I said startled. "I'm sorry James I was just leaving. I found my bird."

James smiled but backed away, "Hey you can bump into me any day, but please keep the bird away okay Evans."

I nodded and then began to walk away, but when James placed his hand on the door I froze. "Wait!" I shouted, but it was too late.

My suspicions were confirmed as James had just walked in on Sirius and Remus in lip lock. James just stared for a bit with his mouth hanging low to the ground. Sirius and Remus let go of each other quickly, "James," Sirius walked towards his friend, "um we can explain."

"You," James looked from Sirius to Remus, "you two."

"Yes James," Remus looked embarrassed and a bit concerned for his friend.

James didn't look like he was able to say much more than "you two." I helped the others walk him in the room and placed him sitting on his bed. Then I shut the door so no one else could hear us talk.

Sitting down seemed to have helped. James started to blink again. I took that as a good sign.

"When?" he looked confused, "did," he was saying his words slowly, almost one at a time. "This happen?" he pointed to the two of them.

"We kind of," Sirius looked only a little less embarrassed than Remus, he ran his hands through his hair, "just got together."

"So you're ah," James breathed deeply.

"Gay," Sirius finished his friends' sentence.

"No," James said, seeming to be more collective. "Honestly, both of you had a group of girls gawking after you every day and neither of you ever had a serious relationship. It gives a guy ideas. I had my suspicions about that part," he paused and shrugged before continuing. "and frankly Black, well, lets just say I was almost jealous over the amount of drooling you did over Lupin here," he winked at Remus, " I was going to say a couple. I mean, it would have only been a matter of minutes before I figured it out, I am a very excellent detective," James lifted his head boasting, "I've just been, extra busy," he paused, "yes that's it, that's how I missed it, missed how Lupin felt that is, but I was on the very verge of it."

"You what?" Remus interrupted looking up at James with disbelief as if he just tuned into what his friend had said.

"I can't believe this," Sirius said looking towards me, "was I that obvious Lily?"

"Not obvious," I shrugged, "but I thought it was a possibility. I have to say the Yule Ball made me really start suspecting it."

Remus looked down at his shoes. Sirius pushed his hair back again. "So," James said more like himself, "are you two a couple?"

Sirius laughed then, "I guess we are, but we are kind of hoping to not announce it to the rest of the school."

"Look," James said, "it'll take time for me to adjust to the idea, but I'm friends with you both. I want you two to be happy and I know when to keep my mouth shut about certain," James looked at Remus, an odd look in my perspective. It made me think there was something more than this that James held a secret, "secrets and things left best unsaid to others." He finished.

Remus and Sirius nodded in thanks and understanding. For the first time I really believed James Potter was being sincere. A small part of me began to wonder if I had misjudged him.

"Just one question?" James asked, sitting straight up. "Did either one of you ever consider me?"

Remus looked to Sirius and Sirius looked to Remus, together they spoke, "No."

"Ah come on guys, why not? I mean I'm straight and would have refused you, but come on. Didn't either of you have the tiniest bit of a crush on me."

A pillow hit James then and the boys began to laugh. I took that as my cue to leave. I grabbed my Aunt Mini and together we left. I had congratulated myself several times before I went to bed that night. It was nice to be helpful to my friends. I wished then that I would find my match, just as those two had found theirs. I had hoped that Mini wouldn't be involved in my love story though.


End file.
